Clarifying violations in land acquisition and resettlement in Cua Lo town

PV: Dear Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee, it is known that the working group has completed the inspection and review of land acquisition and resettlement in Cua Lo town. As the head of the group, could you please inform Nghe An Newspaper about the implementation of the group's work in the recent past?

Comrade Le Thanh Long:On January 4, 2024, the Standing Committee of the Town Party Committee decided to establish a working group to inspect, review, and re-evaluate the results of the inspection and review of land recovery and resettlement arrangements in the area by the working group of the Town People's Committee to ensure objectivity, honesty, and accuracy; and at the same time, to clearly identify violations and wrongdoings of relevant organizations and individuals. In performing the assigned tasks, the working group based on the provisions of law and regulations of the province in the field of land focused on reviewing and re-evaluating the land recovery and resettlement work in the area in the fiscal year from January 2020 to June 2023. What were the violations; what was right and wrong. Up to now, the working group has completed the inspection and reported to the Standing Committee of the Town Party Committee on the inspection results.

Phó Bí thư Thường trực Thị ủy Cửa Lò Lê Thanh Long trả lời phỏng vấn Báo Nghệ An.
Standing Deputy Secretary of Cua Lo Town Party Committee Le Thanh Long answered an interview with Nghe An Newspaper.

Through inspection, we found that at some points, some provisions of the land law were not really strict, leading to different views in reading and understanding. But in general, in the spirit of objective work, the delegation agreed that in the fiscal year from January 2020 to June 2023, the land acquisition and resettlement work in Cua Lo town did not ensure the provisions of the law.

PV: The working group determined how many plots of land were recovered and how many resettlement plots violated the law, sir?

Comrade Le Thanh Long:Comparing the provisions of the law on land, the delegation determined that the implementation of the recovery of 53 plots of land and the resettlement of 85 plots of land did not have sufficient legal basis.

Một số vị trí đất đai có sai phạm trong thu hồi đất, bố trí tái định cư trên địa bàn thị xã Cửa Lò.
Some land locations have violations in land acquisition and resettlement arrangement in Cua Lo town.

PV: Before the establishment of the working group, based on the inspection and review report of the People's Committee of Cua Lo town, the Standing Committee of the Town Party Committee directed the implementation of remedial measures. So can you tell us the results of the remedial measures, and which organizations and individuals related to the violations have been clarified by the working group?

Comrade Le Thanh Long:Up to now, 4 resettlement plots have been voluntarily returned. In addition, the people involved have voluntarily paid 8.9 billion VND to the State budget, the reason being that they had not previously calculated enough money for infrastructure investment when allocating resettlement land. The inspection team has identified organizations and individuals who are being held responsible for violations and wrongdoings. These are Party organizations and individual Party members involved in land acquisition and resettlement. Regarding Party organizations, specifically the Party Cell of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the Party Cell of the Department of Finance and Planning... Regarding individual Party members involved, such as the Chairman of the Town People's Committee, Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment and a number of other individuals...

Violations and mistakes in land acquisition and resettlement occurred in wards such as Nghi Thuy, Thu Thuy, Nghi Thu, Nghi Hoa, Nghi Huong. These are all wards with planning projects related to traffic works, construction of new residential areas, and resettlement. As for the subjects of land acquisition and resettlement, the working group has not yet classified them but includes both people inside and outside Cua Lo town.

PV: How will the review of consequences and handling of responsibilities of related organizations and individuals be carried out, comrade?

Comrade Le Thanh Long:The viewpoint of the Standing Committee of the City Party Committee is to consider and strictly handle, in accordance with the Party's regulations and the State's laws, organizations and individuals who have violated or made mistakes. When establishing the working group, the Standing Committee of the City Party Committee clearly identified two objectives of the inspection and review. Firstly, to overcome and minimize the damage to the State budget. Secondly, to correctly identify the organizations and individuals involved in violations to consider and strictly handle their responsibilities according to regulations, thereby helping cadres and Party members in the area to draw lessons in their work, that is, in any field of work, when performing tasks, they must strictly comply with the Party's regulations and the State's laws.

Regarding the review and handling of responsibilities, for Party organizations and individual Party members under its authority, the City Party Committee will soon establish a working group to review and advise the Standing Committee of the City Party Committee to consider and decide on the form of handling in accordance with regulations; and for Party organizations and individual Party members under provincial agencies or beyond their authority, the Cua Lo City Party Committee will coordinate or report and propose handling in accordance with regulations.

Một số bìa báo về những sai phạm trong thu hồi đất, bố trí tái định cư ở thị xã Cửa Lò trên báo Nghệ An điện tử.
Some newspaper covers about violations in land acquisition and resettlement arrangements in Cua Lo town on Nghe An electronic newspaper.

PV: May I ask you more, as the Standing Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee assigned by the organization to be the head of the working delegation, what are your thoughts at this point?

Comrade Le Thanh Long: In recent years, Cua Lo town has had very positive changes. In addition, Cua Lo town will be merged into Vinh city. In such a context, as a leader, what happened was undesirable. I am very sad about this incident. However, with my responsibility to the Party Committee and people of Cua Lo town, when the organization entrusted me with the task, I accepted the responsibility of being the head of the working group.

Đoạn 600m dự án giai đoạn 1 của tuyến đường ngang 21, thị xã Cửa Lò.
600m section of phase 1 project of cross-road 21, Cua Lo town.

Through the inspection, violations and mistakes in land acquisition and resettlement work from January 2020 to June 2023 have been clarified and cadres and party members who have violated the law have been screened for consideration and handling of responsibilities. I think that with this result, it will help unrelated cadres and party members to be more confident, feel secure in their work and strive. At the same time, the superior agencies will see that after the press reported, the Party Committee and the government of Cua Lo town have been completely proactive in inspecting, reviewing, directing the overcoming of consequences and handling of violations in accordance with the regulations of the Party and the State. Thereby, further strengthening the trust of the province and the people in the Party Committee and the government of Cua Lo town.

PV:Thank you for this exchange!